


Assignment

by thefourarmedtitan



Series: Requests, Prompts, etc. [2]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst/Tragedy, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eremin is platonic, F/M, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-31
Updated: 2014-12-31
Packaged: 2018-03-04 14:12:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3071108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefourarmedtitan/pseuds/thefourarmedtitan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aruani Secret Santa Gift for Tumblr user iiair.tumblr.com. Happy Holidays!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Assignment

Her father walked into her room without a word and dropped a thin yellow folder onto her desk, "new assignment. Corporate businessman wants to get rid of his competition, nothing special." Sitting up, the blonde woman looked through the papers in the folder.  
"Armin Arlert, married to Doctor Hange Zoë, one son, works in marine biology," waving the papers at the darkly dressed man she asked the one question needed the answer to, "how much is the pay?"  
"Fifteen thousand dollars, biggest payment for this year." Plucking the papers away, he sauntered out, "make it quick, Annie, we're leaving this place after we get the money."  
"Don't I always?" Clicking open the wooden trunk at the foot of her bed, Annie grabbed her M16 rifle, a small black disk, and a pair of throwing knives. Rather than exiting out of her room the way her father had, Annie climbed out the window and down the twisted oak just outside.  
************  
In the thorny rose bushes outside of a pale blue house, Annie crouched in waiting. At the sound of a car pulling into the driveway, she looked through the thorny branches and saw a blond man in all black with a young boy, maybe seven or eight, dressed in a small black suit of his own. Both appeared to be crying, and the child looked down to the ground listlessly. "Do you see the target?" The deep voice of Annie's father whispered statically into a small device latched to her ear.  
"Yes, I'm waiting until his son leaves him alone." Once the two people had gone inside, the elder male, Armin, slid open a window a few feet from Annie's hiding place and then turned to his . Silently, Annie drew out the black disk she brought from her home and tossed it frisbee-style under the table through the window where it snapped on. Clicking a button on her earpiece, Annie heard the voices of Armin and his son as clearly as if they were sitting next to her.  
"I'm sorry, Eren." A choked voice murmured through Annie's head, "mom's gone..."  
"When will they be back?" Inwardly, Annie groaned. She knew where this was leading, and why both of them looked like they had been crying.  
"I thought you said he was married," Annie hissed, "Dr. Zoë's dead!"  
"They're alive according to these papers, keep listening."  
Following the order, Annie refocused on the duo in the house. "They won't be back, I'm sorry."  
"You're lying!" Annie winced at the boy's sudden shout, which was followed by quick footsteps which quieted as they got further away from Annie's transmitter. Armin stayed in the room, Annie could see him standing by the table through the window. He sat down by the table, his sobs filling Annie's head.  
"Don't we have a rule about killing single parents?" Annie tapped the button she first used to hear Armin and his son, cutting out the man's crying.  
A sharp snort came through the earpiece, "are you serious, Annie? Rules are out the window when we're talking fifteen thousand." Annie began standing up, "are you listening? Kill him, kid's gone isn't it?"  
"Rules are rules, old man." Tapping another button, Annie cut off her father's start of a retort and clambered out of the bush. She began to walk away, but stopped and looked back at the house and then to the bush, which was blooming with dozens of red roses. Pulling a single flower out while minding the sharp thorns, Annie snuck up to the door of the small blue two-story. Placing the plant on the brown welcome mat just in front of the door, she knocked loudly and sprinted off to an old tree near the road, From behind the thick-trucked tree, Annie peeked around it, watching Armin open the door while wiping his nose with his sleeve. He picked up the rose, looked around for who left it there, and vanished back into the house. Satisfied, Annie began jogging back to her house.  
************  
"You stupid, stupid girl!" Her father's hoarse voice shouted at her when she reentered her house, "you could've offed him as soon as his brat left! But you let your emotions," he shoved her, "cloud your judgement!"  
"It wasn't emotions," Annie swatted his hand away, "you taught me since I was small, don't kill if it leaves a kid orphaned." The elder growled and threw his hands in the air, "am I wrong?"  
"Fifteen thousand dollars, Ann!" He turned back around, his eyes alight, "we could leave this shitty town! We have enough saved already to do that!"  
"Never took you for the greedy type," Annie crossed her arms, "did you know he was a widower?"  
"No, Dr. Zoë must've died recently," he sat on the couch, taking a drink from a tall wineglass. "I'm giving you an order, kill this man, in return, you get sixty percent of the total award for whatever your little heart desires." Annie didn't respond, instead she silently padded up the stairs with her father laughing wildly behind her, "you know you'll do it, Ann! You know you want to!"  
************  
Armin carefully set down the rose into a small vase that he had filled with water, which was set in the center of his kitchen table. "Ow!" Pulling his hand back and letting the sharp plant fall, Armin looked at the small cut, already bloody, on his ring finger, just under his gold wedding band. Staring at the shiny ring, tears reformed in his eyes. Once the red flower was set in the vase, Armin took a seat and looked at it through watery blue eyes. 'I hope I meet whoever gave me this," leaning his head, Armin's cheek pressed into the cold table, tears falling across his pale skin. 'I'd like to thank them...' In a few moments, the man had drifted off to sleep.  
"I'm sorry..." A quiet voice came from the stairs just outside the kitchen as Eren shuffled in, his eyes rubbed red and his face streaked with tears. Realizing Armin had fallen asleep, the boy quietly rushed out of the room, and came back with a thick blanket draped over his shoulders, most of it dragging on the ground behind him. With a huff, the blanket was tossed over Armin's unconscious form, rushing around, the brown-haired boy straightened the blanket and made sure his father was completely covered up. Sneaking up to his head, the brunet wiped away the tears on Armin's cheeks. With a small and tired smile, the boy whispered into the blond man's ear, "I love you." Quick as lightning, Eren hustled back up the stairs and left Armin slumped over the table with the blanket draped over him.


End file.
